Konerko still out with bone chip in wrist

Paul Konerko said the bothersome bone chip floating around in his left wrist is about half the size of a tic tac.

It might be miniscule, but it’s been causing the White Sox’ captain some big pain the past few days.

Konerko missed his second straight game Wednesday night after having the bone chip flushed out of the wrist joint.

“The bone chip got me again,” said Konerko, the American League’s leading hitter at .366. “We went in (Tuesday) and flushed it out. Now it’s just obviously sore from that. A couple needles stuck in there and a lot of fluid pumped in to try to get it out of there.

“It feels similar to yesterday as far as the restriction, but I think it’s because of the soreness, not because there’s something impeding in there.”

Over the past five years, the bone chip has occasionally lodged in the wrist joint and made it impossible for Konerko to swing a bat.

Konerko has actually learned to flush the chip out himself by manipulating the wrist, but it did not work last June and it didn’t work this June either.

Last season, the bone chip got stuck in the wrist joint and had to be flushed out with needles and fluids. Konerko missed two games and returned to the lineup with no further problems.

This year, the Sox’ 36-year-old first baseman is dealing with the same issue.

Konerko noticed the problem during Monday’s off day and tried working the chip out of his left wrist joint himself. When it was still lodged as batting practice started Tuesday, Konerko had to have another procedure. He hopes to be back in the lineup Thursday night against the Blue Jays but might not be ready until Friday, when the White Sox open a three-game interleague series against the Houston Astros.

Konerko said he is likely to have surgery to remove the chip when the season ends.

If the chip can be removed arthroscopically, Konerko should be ready to resume baseball activities in 3-4 weeks.

If the wrist needs to be opened up, Konerko said the recovery time could be 6-8 weeks.

“A lot of guys have this in their elbow from wear and tear,” Konerko said. “It’s a little small thing but when it gets in that joint it kind of cripples me. We’re going to take care of it when the season is over and that will be the end of that saga.”